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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22731613">the demons that bring us together</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsmyusualweeb/pseuds/itsmyusualphannie'>itsmyusualphannie (itsmyusualweeb)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF), Shadowhunters (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Action, Action &amp; Romance, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops &amp; Cafés, Alternate Universe - Shadowhunters, Chaptered, Coffee Shop Owner Phil, Crossover, Demons, Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, Inspired by Shadowhunters (TV), M/M, Making Out, Shadowhunter Dan, Suspense, Warlock Phil, these tags are a mess</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 17:14:22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>14,941</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22731613</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsmyusualweeb/pseuds/itsmyusualphannie</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Dan knew he should be doing his patrols of London, especially with Valentine still on the loose, but he gets sidetracked and when he goes to a downworlder cafe, he meets Phil. The warlock isn’t like most downworlders. He is kind and caring, and weirdly enough, attracted to Dan.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dan Howell/Phil Lester</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>35</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. between the wars</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>this fic was written for the 2019 winter prb! it’s loosely set in the Shadowhunters (TV/books) so it might help if you’ve seen that. or just be like me with most of the prb fics so far and just throw yourself into it headfirst!</p><p>make sure to check out the <a href="https://candanandphilnot.tumblr.com/post/190898661216/here-is-my-art-for-the-phandomreversebang-click">AMAZING ART</a> for this fic! i love it so much, cal is the best. they also thought of the title for this fic! &lt;33</p><p>beta’ed by the lovely <a href="https://yourfriendlyblogstalker.tumblr.com/">tasha</a>!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Dan was on the rooftop of a Tesco when he first saw the shadow.</p><p>He had been crouched here only for a moment, pausing to catch his breath after scaling the side of the building. He hadn't <em> needed </em> to climb the building, but going around the building, where there a considerable amount of pedestrian traffic, threatened his discovery. He wasn't visible to regular humans of course, with the glamour rune snaking its way around his left forearm, but there was still a chance that someone could bump into him and would be rudely startled by an invisible person. In any case, Dan liked the height. It afforded him a better view of the sprawling city around him, the buildings of various sizes and shapes, and the numerous people and vehicles making their way between them. Dan didn't try to focus on any individual person or item, although it wouldn't be that hard. The delicate lines of a farsighted rune on his temple allowed him hawk-like vision, giving him the ability to distinguish even the minute details of someone's expression from half a mile away.</p><p>Even without that rune, Dan likely would have seen the shadow in the alley beside Tesco, the tendrils of dark slipping around a pair of squat dumpsters. It trailed along the concrete wall and slithered across the empty alley, sliding around the corner out of sight.</p><p>Dan was on his feet in an instant, throwing himself across the length of the rooftop after the shadow with a recklessness that would have sent him plummeting to the ground two stories below if he wasn't protected by the massive equilibrium rune permanently etched across his back, allowing him perfect balance and a near-inability to lose his footing. The other building that the shadow had slipped around was across the alley, almost ten feet away, but Dan didn't hesitate before throwing himself into the air above the alley, landing with a <em> thump </em> of his lightly-padded boots and rolling to absorb the impact. He was up again in an instant, feet travelling swiftly along the edge of the rooftop. He moved far faster than the shadow had been moving, but by the time he reached the corner that it had slipped around, it was gone.</p><p>Dan wouldn't let that discourage him, though. He hadn't seen anything on patrol in <em> weeks</em>, and he wasn't planning on letting this get away from him now. He didn't know exactly what the creature was, or what it was planning, but any second that it was out in the mortal world, people - hunters, Downworlders, and mortal humans - were all in danger.</p><p>He grabbed the edge of the roof and flipped over it in a swift motion that sent his head whirling, but only for that instant. He fell, arms outspread to maintain his balance, and he landed solidly on the ground over thirty feet below. The impact jarred up his legs, but it was absorbed almost instantly by the power of the matching stamina runes on both of his thighs. He was off again, feet pounding against the ground as he sprinted down the pavement. There were only a few people back here in this narrow alley behind the main buildings, but he avoided them swiftly, dodging around each person walking toward or away from him. Not one of them noticed him - they were all mortals, after all, and Dan's glamour rune concealed him from anyone who was mortal. It wouldn't do to be noticed either on his patrol, where he regularly climbed the occasional building and jogged through alleys and down pavements, or on this high-speed chase.</p><p>It wasn't much of a chase if he couldn't see his prey, though. Dan didn't slow, his eyes keen as his gaze darted from one side of the alley to the other, but he didn't see a hint of movement that gave away the shadow he had seen. There was little chance that it had moved much faster than he had pursued, unless it had seen him. That...that was a possibility. Dan wasn't the most subtle person, after all.</p><p>But then, he hadn't seen anything in so long, even with the London forces scattered and bedraggled, that he was eager to hunt down whatever this was. He scanned every article of trash, every toppled bin, every doorway where the shadow might be lurking. His arms pumped at his sides, but his fingers twitched to grab the twin, narrow blades strapped to his sides. Although he had a collection of throwing knives stashed in various parts of his clothes, he was much better with hand-to-hand combat. Despite not having the familiar presence of his parabatai running beside him, Dan had no doubt that he could take down this creature with ease.</p><p>If he could fucking <em> find </em> it, that was.</p><p>He reached the end of the alley in another dozen long strides, skidding to a stop as he hesitated between the two directions where it branched away. His gaze skipped between them, and he weighed the merits of one over the other. The one to his left seemed to lead out to the open road, packed with helpless, mortal civilians, while the right fell further between tall buildings, dark and dank with shadows. Even his sharp vision couldn't make out all of the details in that one. Dan could only hope to guess the shadow's intentions, since he wasn't quite sure what it was exactly, but...he didn't think that even a creature this vile would be stupid enough to attack mortals yet. Twilight was falling, but the sun was still an hour above the horizon.</p><p>Dan's phone buzzed in his pocket, suddenly, and he was jolted from the intensity of his thoughts. It prompted him to move, and so he glanced one last time at the more brightly lit alley to his left, then he threw himself down the one to his right. His foot skidded on something wet, but he kept moving, regaining his balance with a flail of his arm. He didn't risk answering his phone right now. He needed both hands available in case he needed to grab his weapons. He didn't stop running, but he did slow on occasion when he passed a particularly dark section of the alley, glancing over it to make sure there was no movement. He ran, and ran, and ran, and even with his stamina runes, he was a little out of breath by the time he burst from the alley and out onto another main street.</p><p>He stopped then, before he ploughed over a woman pushing a dog stroller in front of her, and glanced back behind him at the alley. There was something ominous about it, but Dan did not think that anything living or demonic was inhabiting it now. He pulled in a deep breath, furious suddenly at his loss, and tugged out the phone that had been vibrating in his pocket for some time now.</p><p>"Hello?" he answered, voice raspy from his run and its disuse on his lengthy patrol. He hadn't spoken to anyone in over ten hours.</p><p>"Dan!" said a chirpy voice on the other end. His parabatai.</p><p>"Hi, Louise," he said.</p><p>"Just calling to check up on you," she said brightly. "I felt like a...rush of adrenaline or something through our bond. Everything good?"</p><p>Dan cast one last irritated glance at the alley behind him. "Yeah, I saw something, but it got away. I'm still looking."</p><p>"Where are you?" Her cheerful tone had sobered instantly. "I'm still on my patrol, but I can head that way right now."</p><p>Dan turned back to face the main street and his gaze travelled over the buildings. He sighed, something deep and weary. His patrol bordered the edge of an area where Downworlders lived, he knew that, but he hadn't realised that this alley led right to it. "I'm <em> downtown</em>. Don't worry about it, I think I've lost it for good. I'm going to look around, though."</p><p>Louise snorted, almost a laugh. "Don't antagonise any vampires."</p><p>"That was one time," Dan dismissed. He glanced to his left, where a bustling marketplace intermingled both mortals and Downworlders. This area looked like it was mostly wolves, although no human would be able to tell. Dan knew from his lifelong training how to spot the differences in their gait, their speech, their mannerisms, and he could spot the loping werewolves from a mile away. Here, he didn't have to - there were dozens of them along the pavements and ducking around humans and bustling in and out of shops.</p><p>"I'll call you if I need help," Dan said into his phone, and then he hung up and slipped it back in his pocket. He wasn't particularly interested in going into the marketplace, as he doubted the creature could have made its way in there with so many wolves and their keen noses, but - he looked to his right - ah, there was a quiet, snug bakery nestled right up against the alley. A side door, one that looked like it was some sort of employee entrance, was cracked open, a sliver of light spilling across the dark shadows of the alley. Dan's gaze narrowed in on it. It was a clear invitation for anything to slip through.</p><p>Dan resisted his own temptation to slide through the door and instead went around to the front of the building. He couldn't see any mortals inside, so he didn't bother removing his glamour rune - any downworlders inside would be able to see him, anyway.</p><p>The door tinkled with a bright welcome as he pushed it open and stepped inside, and Dan had to blink at the sudden light inside that assaulted his vision. It was cosy, with a dozen round tables with chairs, a long counter with displays of pastries and breads, a range of coffee machines and devices that Dan was vaguely sure were some sort of torture instruments, and a few scattered customers. It was silent inside, that sort of dead air that made it obvious that everyone had just stopped talking as Dan entered.</p><p>The silence was broken a moment later, though, as a tall, dark-haired man stood up from where he'd evidently been crouched behind the counter. He wore a bright pink apron with ruffles over a sinfully tight blue shirt, crooked glasses, and an easy smile that he directed toward Dan.</p><p>"Hi!" he said. "Welcome to the Mage Cave."</p><p>Dan hurt inside a little at the name. It was horrible. It was evident that it was named for a reason, though, as Dan could see in the next instant as the man behind the counter waved a hand at one of the coffee machines. Sparks of blue and yellow sputtered from his hands, and the coffee machine reluctantly began spurting a steady stream of coffee into the glass container beneath it. He was a warlock, then.</p><p>"What can I get for you?" said the warlock, still beaming at Dan. He <em> clearly </em> knew what Dan was, as his gaze travelled briefly to the runes visible on Dan's forearms, neck, and temple, but his smile didn't falter. And he'd just used visible magic in front of Dan, so he didn't seem intimidated in the slightest by Dan's status as a Shadowhunter.</p><p>Dan glanced at the other patrons in the shop, who casually looked away from him and returned to their quiet conversations as if he hadn't caused any sort of interruption. They were all clearly werewolves. Dan thought wryly that this barista could probably call the shop 'Wolf Cafe' and it would still ring true.</p><p>He crossed the cafe in a few long strides, stopping before the counter and the light gaze of the warlock. He glanced up at the menu hanging above his head, etched in what looked like handwriting but was clearly drawn with magic. The edges were cut a little too sharp, too clean for a hand to have etched it. He barely looked at the options before deciding. "I'll get a caramel macchiato with almond milk. Large iced, please."</p><p>"Coming right up!"</p><p>Dan saw the scrawled name on the warlock's name badge just before he turned away to make the drink. <em> Phil :) </em> it said. He watched as the barista moved quickly behind the counter, hands nimble as he prepared the drink. He didn't hesitate to use his magic, fingers flicking with quick movements at various ingredients to pull them closer to himself in a flurry of colourful sparks. Dan was well aware that he should be keeping an eye on the other occupants of the shop, but somehow he couldn't look away from the warlock. He was lean, but his arms were still corded with muscle, visible through the taut sleeves of his too-tight, bright blue shirt. The shirt was a crime to fashion, Dan decided, but it didn't look bad at all on this guy.</p><p>"Here you are," said Phil as he returned to the counter and slid the drink to Dan. His smile was bright and Dan noted the way he let his fingers linger against Dan's. "That'll be three pounds."</p><p>"Not a bad price," Dan commented as he pulled his phone from his pocket again and used it to pay for his drink at the machine reader. "You get a lot of business?"</p><p>"Sure," the warlock agreed amiably. "Not too much, but enough to keep running."</p><p>As if this <em> Phil </em> needed customers to keep his business running. Dan was quite sure that it was just a hobby, something to pass the time. He'd seen a few other warlocks take up such interests when they were bored, or even just a front for their underground potion or magic business. Dan forced himself not to think about that, though. He wasn't here to search for information about this warlock.</p><p>"Need your receipt?"</p><p>"Nah." Dan waved it away. "Save the environment and all."</p><p>Phil eyed Dan's visible runes sketched onto every available body surface. "Yeah," he said, clear amusement evident in his tone. He hit a few buttons on the till. "All right, you're good to go. Is there anything else I can do for you?"</p><p>Dan cast a swift glance over his shoulder. None of the wolves in the shop was paying attention to them - that he could tell, anyway. He was sure their ears were pricked for anything he would say. In fact, he was counting on it.</p><p>"Actually, yeah." Dan faced the warlock and nodded severely. "As I'm sure you know, the Institute has a few patrols near this area. Mine is one of them."</p><p>"Hmm," said Phil, nodding as Dan talked. He wiggled his fingers and a mug swirled into existence, accompanied by a clash of blue sparks. He raised it to his lips and took a casual sip, and Dan couldn't help but notice the gleaming rings on almost every one of his fingers.</p><p>“I caught a glimpse of a shadow demon, and although I’m not sure of the type, it looked dangerous. It’s certainly fast, since I couldn’t catch up to it, and I'm pretty sure it came this way." Dan was only half-sure that Phil was listening, with the absent way that the warlock was bobbing his head, but he continued regardless, "So I just wanted to warn you and the other Downworlders here. If you see anything or even suspect something is hanging around, I'd appreciate it if you let me know so I can take care of it."</p><p>Phil set his mug down on the counter, and his rings clicked quietly against the ceramic as he did so. "I'll definitely do that," he said, almost casual, but his eyes were sharp. "But I can guarantee you that it didn't come in here. I can tell you're thinking it."</p><p>Dan <em> had </em> been thinking it, and he didn't particularly care if Phil knew it. He just shrugged. "Your back door was open."</p><p>The warlock waved a dismissive hand. Light sputtered from his hand and, from the back, Dan could hear a door slam shut. "It's fine," he said. "My wards wouldn't even let a rat in within my knowledge, much less an entire shadow demon."</p><p>"Your wards wouldn't happen to extend beyond this shop, would they?"</p><p>Phil's gaze was keen as he lifted his mug and took another drink. "No," he said. "Too much effort."</p><p>Dan greatly suspected that the mug had been conveniently lifted at that exact moment in order to hide a smirk. He wasn't sure what the warlock was hiding, but it could be a number of things. He didn't think it was an entire demon, though. Despite warlocks' half-demon parentage, Dan had never met one who would actually work together with a demon.</p><p>Dan also greatly suspected that he wouldn't be getting anything else from Phil. Although downworlders, in general, would work with the hunters if necessary for protection from demons, they didn't go out of their way to help out. Phil wouldn't be any different.</p><p>"Well," said Dan, "thanks for the help and the drink." He tipped the icy beverage at Phil, who raised his own mug in reply.</p><p>"Anytime," said Phil, and this time he didn't raise the mug quite fast enough to hide his wide smile.</p><p>Dan briefly wondered how much trouble he would get into for punching a warlock. It probably wasn't worth it. <em> Probably</em>. He turned to leave, slipping a glance to the wolves still slumped over their drinks at the various tables. One had been openly watching him, and quickly looked away, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear. Good. If they'd all been listening, then they'd all be on the alert for anything suspicious hanging around.</p><p>Dan left the shop, the bell tinkling again, and headed back down the pavement toward the alley he'd come from. He considered tossing the drink, almost unwilling to drink the concoction with whatever potions or magic the warlock may have imbued into it, but he didn't want to waste an entire macchiato, so he raised it to his lips and took a short sip. It was good. Surprisingly so. He hummed and continued on his way, resolving to toss it before he got back to the Institute. His patrol was almost over, after all, so he might as well head back and report what he'd seen. The shadow was long gone, but Dan suspected it was still nearby.</p><p>Phil was also suspicious, Dan decided, and he would need to return at some point to check up on him. It had nothing to do with the broad stretch of his shoulders beneath that shirt, or his crooked smile, or the wrinkles that sunk around his eyes when he looked at Dan. It was purely business.</p><p>Dan took another gulp of his macchiato. Damn, it really was good.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. heart of the darkness</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Dan revisits the coffee shop (certainly not because he's interested in a certain warlock).</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"It's decided, then," said Natalie. Her gaze was no-nonsense as it travelled over the various Shadowhunters assembled in the study of the Institute. As the current head of the Institute, her word was law, but that didn't mean Dan had to agree with her. In fact, he didn't at the moment, but he bit back a reply anyway. He had already spent a good few hours arguing his case last night, when he had given his report on what he had seen on patrol.</p><p>Dan wanted to hunt down the creature. It was some form of shadow demon, although he wasn't particularly sure of the classification as he hadn't seen it quite long enough. He didn't like the thought of such a creature roaming the streets of the city unchecked. He knew Natalie didn't like it either, and he could understand the logic behind her order that Dan was to stick to his patrol and <em> not </em> go specifically hunting it down. The Institute was running low on hunters, and they couldn't spare a single one to take over Dan's patrol while he hunted down a shadow that he would likely never find.</p><p>"We'll find it eventually," Natalia had assured him last night. "I'm not worried about that, but I don't want you to waste your time looking for it when it will pop up by its own volition soon."</p><p>"But how many people will be hurt when it 'pops up'?" Dan had demanded. Natalie had just shaken her head at him, and that was that. Louise had backed him up, of course, their parabatai bond humming with shared adrenaline as she argued, but there wasn't much point once Natalie had made up her mind. She was fair and listened to everyone's reasoning, but when she made her decision, it was final.</p><p>"Jack is going to be switching with Dean in that area," Natalia was saying, and Dan's attention focused back on her only to realise that she had dropped his topic entirely, and was now focused on patrol rearrangement. Her long bronze fingernails tapped on the holographic map spread across the massive oak table in the room. The false nails looked intimidating, and they weren't just for show. They were sharp-edged weapons, complements to Natalie's sleek bronze katana that she wore strapped to her back. All, with one slice into a demon opponent, would send its atoms whirling and scattering into nothingness. Dan's twin blades at his side were made with the same material, but he had never been able to obtain the same natural oneness with them that Natalia had with her weapon. She sparred regularly with the younger hunters, and Dan had never seen anything quite like it. Her keen intellect wasn't the only reason she was the Institute's head.</p><p>"Dan," said Louise at his side, and he glanced at her. "Did you want to submit a transfer request? I can take your patrol." Her eyes were knowing. She was his parabatai and she knew him better than anyone; she knew well that he would continue his hunt for the creature, even if he continued his regular patrol as Natalia ordered.</p><p>Dan shook his head. "It starts in two hours. I'll just leave early and look for it, then start my patrol. Natalie can't argue with extra work."</p><p>"Don't overwork yourself," Natalie called across the table. Her hearing rune was apparently freshly applied, as she raised a knowing eyebrow at the pair and then returned to her conversation with the other hunters around her.</p><p>"I'd go with you if I could," Louise said, her mouth pursing into a small frown, "but my patrol starts in ten minutes or so, and it's right around the Institute. Yours is over thirty minutes away."</p><p>Dan shrugged. He would prefer to work with Louise, but they were stretched thin enough as it was, and Louise's patrol was perhaps one of the most important of all. She, along with three others, carefully patrolled a mile-wide perimeter of the Institute itself, keeping anything from approaching. They also kept up the wards, the invisible bands of magic around the border of the Institute maintained by runes, making sure that none of them were running low or patchy. If necessary, they even had the authority to let Downworlders through the wards in order to keep Downworlders safe from any demonic attacks, but that had happened exactly three times in the entirety of Dan's life here.</p><p>"It's fine," said Dan. "I'll text you if anything happens."</p><p>Louise punched him solidly in the shoulder. "You'd <em>better</em>. I don't want to find out that you got mauled by a demon when I happen to wander into the infirmary."</p><p>"I lost my phone that time," Dan protested.</p><p>"Yeah, but you could have asked someone here to let me know first."</p><p>"Fine," he sighed. "I'll steal someone's phone to text you if I get half-eaten by a demon."</p><p>"Good," she said. She turned to watch Natalie talk with one of the other hunters, a burly, muscled man that Dan called "Mark" and Louise called "Puppy eyes." Dan looked at the clock on the wall and sighed. </p><p>"I'm going to head out," he called to Natalie. She lifted a hand in acknowledgement but didn't look up at him.</p><p>Louise followed him out of the study, through the winding, wide walls of the Institute, and to the main entrance that led to the street just outside of the Institute. It was quiet, the halls unusually empty of hunters, but Dan was used to it by now. It shouldn't be normal, and yet he had reached that point of resignation where he didn't expect anyone to be taking up space at this little table in the corner, or on that cosy bench by the window, or clashing weapons in the training room. A small part of him still panged when he passed the sparse training areas, the empty bedrooms, or the little-used library in the Institute. It was getting better, though; in the past month, they had six hunters transfer from the Shanghai and Madrid Institutes. The reinforcements were building the Institute back up, albeit slowly.</p><p>"Well," said Louise, watching Dan as he snagged his pair of long knives from the massive rack by the door and slid them into the sheaths at his side. "I'll see you later."</p><p>Dan slid the tiny straps on his sheaths over the hilts of the blades. Although inconvenient to hastily remove in a fight, Dan did far too much running and rolling and flipping to risk letting the blades fall out. He kept these weapons by the door, but he always had at least ten throwing knives strapped to his person somewhere. Right now, in anticipation of finding the same shadow demon, he had added an extra dozen or so. His clothes, thankfully weighted evenly by the skilled seamstresses at the Institute, still hung a little heavier than usual.</p><p>"See you soon," he agreed, and he gave her a quick hug before ducking outside. The door thudded quietly behind him and then he was moving, feet swift on the cracked pavement as he jogged away from the massive building. If he looked back, he would see the Institute towering high overhead, striking an eerie resemblance to a sixteenth-century chapel, but with considerably sharper edges and more stone instead of windows. If any normal human passed by, they wouldn't see that at all; the only chapel they would see were crumbled ruins of an old church. It was the perfect disguise, with spells and runes carved into the very foundation of the structure in order to turn away unwanted gazes.</p><p>It took Dan just under thirty minutes to make it back to the area he called "downtown." It wasn't really in downtown London, but it hosted a menagerie of Downworlders - particularly werewolves, and so that was Dan's name for it. There were a few other places he called downtown, but each area was home to a different species of downworlder - the quarry in the West End was swarming with merfolk, nests of vampires lived in the streets of Peckham, and the few warlocks in the city were scattered here, there, and everywhere, usually living surrounded by other Downworlders. That was who they peddled their wares to, after all. Most warlocks that Dan had met sold their magic services, or potions, or spells either in writing or to be activated. Two even worked for the Institute on the occasion that they needed a ritual performed with actual magic. Shadowhunters didn't have magic that could produce anything, after all.</p><p>By the time Dan arrived at the dark alley he'd hunted through the previous day, the sun was peeking over the horizon and casting a harsh glare directly into his eyes. He squinted against it as he made his way through the alley, poring over each individual item for a trace of anything the shadow demon might have left. Not a piece of trash, nor a rubbish bin, nor a doorway, nor a pile of crates piled against the side of the dirty walls escaped his notice. He rummaged through heaps of trash, pushed aside scraps of metal, and brushed grime from a window to peer inside a dark storage room.</p><p>He had to admit defeat after nearly an hour of searching. He couldn't find anything that suggested a demonic presence. It wasn't still here, that was certain, but he couldn't even discover a whiff of a leftover scent that would hint to a shadow demon slipping past. He probably should have done this last night, but it would have been much harder with twilight approaching.</p><p>Dan dropped one last piece of mouldy carpet, kicking it toward a rubbish bin slumped against the alley wall, and straightened, brushing off his hands. He had about thirty minutes before he needed to start actually patrolling and would have to leave this area.</p><p>Well, Dan considered, he might as well ask around and see if anyone had seen anything since last night. That was definitely the only reason Dan then slipped from the alley and, casting a glance at the sparsely-occupied main street, went into the shop on his right that he had visited the previous night. The bell tingled once more as he entered, but this time it was almost completely empty. There was a couple in the corner, their heads close together as they talked quietly, and a sharply-dressed woman standing in front of the counter with her head craned back as she looked at the menu above her.</p><p>And there was the warlock. Phil stood a few feet behind the counter, his hands buried in the deep sink as he washed some sort of blender container. He was chatting with the customer still deciding on her drink, but his gaze drifted to Dan as the hunter stepped inside, and he offered a slow grin.</p><p>Dan smiled back without meaning to do so, and he frowned when he realised it. Phil didn't look concerned by Dan's abrupt change of expression, just raised an eyebrow and looked back at the item he was rinsing, mouth still moving as he talked to his customer.</p><p>It took Dan longer than it should have to realise that the customer at the counter was a human. It was something that he should have noticed right away; in fact, he shouldn't have even walked into this shop without making sure of it. Humans couldn't see him, not with the active rune on his upper arm concealing him from their sight, and even if he did deactivate the rune so they were able to see him, the long knives and numerous black, elegant markings on his skin would give them more than a little reason for concern.</p><p>He sidled to the side, moving to the far side of the counter and almost to the other side of the wall, far enough that she wouldn't be able to bump into him when she left. The couple in the corner glanced up at his movement in unison, assuring him that they were both wolves and could see him. One of them sniffed the air, thick eyebrows furrowing at Dan when they recognized his scent as a hunter, and then huffed and turned back to their conversation.</p><p>The woman gave her order to Phil, something long and disgusting-sounding, and Dan watched as Phil made it with none of the magical flairs that he had used with Dan's drink yesterday. Instead of summoning the shot glasses with a snap of his fingers, he crossed the entire space to collect them from their upside-down position next to the sink. Dan found himself missing the flash of sparks, the delicate way that the warlock arched his fingers through the air when using his magic, and he forced himself out of the thoughts. He wasn't here for that.</p><p>It only took another minute for Phil to finish the drink and ring up the woman, and then she was gone, and Dan crossed the room again to the counter. He leaned a hip against it, pretending to gaze up at the drinks menu but really, he was sneaking little glances at Phil's back, watching his shoulderblades move beneath the straps of the still-horrifically-pink apron as he rinsed out the items he'd just used. Phil returned to the counter once he was finished, propping both hands on the counter and leaning uncomfortably close to Dan, a smirk gracing his lips as he quite obviously looked Dan up and down.</p><p>"What can I do for you today, hunter?"</p><p>Dan had to keep himself still when he wanted to shiver under the stare. He returned it, instead, letting his gaze travel over the jut of the warlock's collarbones, the sharpness of his jawline, his sloping nose, and then abruptly down to the pink apron and the green- and red-patterned shirt beneath it. They didn't match, not in the slightest. "You could change those clothes," he heard himself say.</p><p>Phil laughed, clearly surprised, but pleased. He ran a hand down the front of his apron, cocking a grin. "I don't know what you mean, this is the height of fashion."</p><p>"Maybe in the sixties," said Dan, unimpressed.</p><p>The warlock raised a finger, the ring adorning it glimmering at Dan. "Ah, see, I lived through the sixties. It's still fashion for me."</p><p>That only served to make Dan wonder how old Phil was. He looked in his late twenties or early thirties, but that didn't mean much with a warlock. He was much more likely to be in his early or mid-hundreds. "Keep up with the times," said Dan, instead of commenting on Phil's age, as the warlock seemed to be hoping he would.</p><p>Phil pursed his lips and shook his head minutely. "Ah, you young ones. I find myself frosted that you don't understand what's kicking anymore."</p><p>"You're speaking English, but I don't understand you."</p><p>A loud snort. Phil leaned back from the counter, hands sparkling suddenly as he summoned a mug of coffee and lifted it to his lips to sip. "Another caramel macchiato?"</p><p>Dan blinked. He wondered if the warlock just had coffee at the ready to dramatically drink from at the best possible opportunities. More importantly, "You remembered?"</p><p>"But of course," said Phil, and he winked extravagantly. "It's not every day that a gorgeous Shadowhunter wanders into my humble coffee shop looking for a demon."</p><p>Dan furiously willed himself not to blush. He was a hunter, dammit, he didn't do that. "Speaking of demons," he said, "I'm still looking for it."</p><p>"Still?" Phil took another gulp of his coffee and then let go of the entire mug. Dan watched as it fell for half a second, then disappeared into thin air, blue light sparking around it. He wondered how that worked for warlocks. Did they have some sort of pocket dimension where they stored these items or did they just teleport them from some convenient location? If so, when Phil dropped that mug, did it still retain its momentum and shatter somewhere on a floor somewhere hundreds of miles away?</p><p>"Yeah. They're demons, you know. They're as intelligent as you and I."</p><p>"Maybe as intelligent as you," said the warlock, a gleam in his eyes. Dan would have shot back a smart retort, but Phil was already turning away, summoning items left and right as he began to prepare a drink for Dan.</p><p>Dan just watched him work, tempted to let the silence linger as much as his gaze did, but Phil spoke again a moment later.</p><p>"So are you one of those new transfer hunters or have you lived in the London Institute for a while?”</p><p>He shouldn't have been surprised that the warlock knew about the new hunters that had come to live at the Institute, but he was, a little. Dan had never seen Phil at any of the meetings where the leaders of the individual downworlder groups met with the Institute - he would have recognised him. Then again, that didn't mean much; just because Phil didn't appear in person to the meetings didn't mean he couldn't find out anything he wanted to about them.</p><p>"I was raised here," said Dan. Phil's fingers were nimble, wrapping snugly around a bottle of syrup as he drizzled it into over the drink he'd just made. "What about you? I haven't seen you in any of the meetings."</p><p>Phil turned back toward him, the cardboard cup in one hand as he turned his clear gaze back toward Dan. He twisted his other hand with a flourish and a small shaker appeared. He sprinkled its contents over the cup without looking away from Dan. "I'm not a big, ah...politics person. I like my little coffee shop, I'm not particularly interested in anything like your big meetings or ongoings or even other downworlder parties."</p><p>"Sure, but don't you want to know what's going on around you?"</p><p>Phil waved a casual hand - the one holding the shaker. The shaker went flying but vanished in a flurry of sparks before it hit the counter. "I let the High Warlock of London worry about that, as he's in charge of all the important things. I'm just a simple warlock running my business." He capped the iced drink with a plastic lid and handed it to Dan with a straw.</p><p>Dan accepted the drink, pulling the straw from its wrapper and sliding it in the top. He wasn't quite sure how much of that he believed, but Phil wasn't wrong that the High Warlock had the ultimate say. Perhaps Phil really didn't care what was going on, but then, he did know that the Institute had new transfers. Dan would just...have to keep an eye on him. Yes.</p><p>He took a sip of the drink and was delighted by the flavour that burst across his tongue. It was a caramel macchiato, but just a little different. "Hmm," he said, and took another drink. "Good."</p><p>Phil looked pleased. "I added a little cinnamon to it," he said, and then wiggled his fingers and winked. "And a little special touch."</p><p>Dan wrinkled his nose at the insinuation of magic, but the drink really was good. It didn't have that undercurrent of sparkling bite that most foods or drinks made with magic had. "Three pounds again?"</p><p>Phil rocked back on his heels, a smile spreading across his face. "On the house," he announced.</p><p>"You'll run your business into the ground if you give out free drinks."</p><p>"It's one time!" protested Phil.</p><p>Dan took another long drink from the cup. Shit, even if the barista wasn't hot, he might have to come back just for the coffee. "Fine," he said. "But I owe you one." That...was probably not the best thing to say. Owing anything to a warlock wasn't the best idea.</p><p>But Phil just waved it away. "Just catch that demon before it gets into trouble and we'll call it even."</p><p>"Sure," said Dan, as if they both didn't know he was already fully planning on doing that. He glanced at the vintage clock hanging in the corner of the shop. Five minutes until his patrol started? He'd lost track of time. "I'd better go. Thanks for the drink." He tilted it toward Phil, who just aimed a grin at him in reply, and then he headed for the door.</p><p>For the second time in as many days, he headed back down that dark alley with a drink made by a warlock. For the second time in as many days, his heart was pounding faster than it had been when he had gone into the coffee shop.</p><p>He allowed himself one more memory of Phil's broad shoulders and sloping smile, and then he chugged the rest of his coffee and set his mind to the long patrol before him. In a swift movement, he leapt to grab an overhanging window on the alley wall and used various protrusions to scale the rest of the wall until he crawled over the ledge of the roof and stood to his feet. He took a deep breath and then began a steady run across the rooftops.</p><p>He would patrol now, but as soon as it was over, he'd hunt that demon down.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. save me</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Dan has a heated encounter with Phil.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“You’re back!” said Phil. His delighted tone surprised Dan, but he didn’t let it show on his face. He just offered the warlock a little wave, letting the door slip shut behind him as he stepped further into the cafe.</p><p>There were two other people in line at the counter, so Dan took a place behind them. They were mortals, as far as he could tell, so he was glad at his foresight to disable the rune on his upper arms that concealed him from their sight. It would look odd if Phil had spoken to someone who they couldn’t see. He watched Phil for a moment as the warlock moved swiftly to make drinks for the person at the front of the line, but then pulled out his phone after a moment and swiped at it to read his most recent messages. He hadn’t checked it at all while on patrol today, so he might as well catch up.</p><p>There was a message from Tyler, one of the American transfers. He and Dan, while they had only had a chance to speak at dinners and spar for a brief time together, had clicked immediately. The message was a photo of a trash bin tipped on its side next to a massive green dumpster. <em>Us!</em> it had as a caption. Dan replied with a simple ‘<em>just you</em>’ and opened his next text, which was from Louise.</p><p><em>Seen anything?</em> read the message from his parabatai.</p><p><em>still looking, i’ll keep you updated</em>, he replied. Well, he <em>was</em> looking. This wasn’t just a coffee stop. While he was here, Dan could also ask Phil if he had seen anything suspicious.</p><p>“Are you getting your usual?”</p><p>It took Dan a moment to realise that Phil was talking to him. The other two customers in front of him had apparently already gotten their drinks and left while Dan was distracted with his phone, and Phil was leaning with his elbows propped on the counter, raising an expectant eyebrow at Dan.</p><p>Dan slipped his phone into his pocket and sidled forward. “This is only the third time I’ve been here, how do I have a ‘usual’ already?”</p><p>Phil looked amused. “I just have a…sense for these things.” He wiggled his fingers and yellow-blue sparks popped demonstratively. Dan’s gaze was drawn to the motion, to Phil’s long, elegant fingers, and he was only able to look away when Phil reached to grab a cup and started making the drink. It was comfortingly familiar to see the way that Phil stretched out his hand toward a bottle of syrup halfway down the counter, lights would sparkle on his palm, and the bottle would leap through the air to land solidly in his hand. It wasn’t bizarre, as Dan had grown up with the occasional visiting warlock to help maintain the wards around the Institute, and he was well familiar with all forms of magic, but the innate dance that Phil performed with his environment and the magic sparking from his hands was something beautiful to see.</p><p>“Business been good?”</p><p>“Ah, you could say that.” Phil pressed a button on the massive coffee press and it hummed busily as it spat dark liquid into two shot glasses. “There’s a nervous air hanging around because of the shadow you mentioned. Not too many people want coffee when there’s a chance they might be eaten if they step outdoors.”</p><p>Ah, those wolves in the shop the other day had spread his warning, then. “Has anyone seen anything?”</p><p>Phil tilted his head as he cast a peculiar look toward Dan. “Not yet. Are you sure it’s around here?”</p><p>“I’m sure,” Dan said firmly. On his way here, he’d found minute traces of a demon presence on the rooftop of the marketplace just across the street. He might not be able to find it right away, but he knew it was around. It was planning something, he just didn’t know <em>what</em> yet. It itched, the knowledge that there was a dangerous demon lurking within a mile of him and he couldn’t find it.</p><p>A machine buzzed loudly as Phil steamed the milk for Dan’s drink. The warlock spoke loudly over it, not even bothering to dampen the sound, although Dan thought he probably could. “And you’re the only one looking?” The sound faded away, and Phil turned toward Dan, eyebrows furrowed. “Not that you’re not capable, I mean, but shouldn’t the Institute send out a few more hunters to track down a known demon?”</p><p>“Well,” said Dan, and hesitated for a moment. “Yeah. We’re just - and you probably already know this - but we’re pretty short-staffed at the moment. Anyone coming to help me would be pulling from necessary patrols in other parts of the city. I’m not technically ordered to even hunt it down, I’m doing it outside of my patrol that I still have to do.”</p><p>Phil dumped the contents of the two shot glasses into the cardboard cup on the counter. “That’s…” he started, but trailed off, shaking his head. “I get that, you know? But it’s kind of fucked up, too. That they know it’s here, posing a danger, and won’t do anything about it.”</p><p>“<em>Yeah</em>.” Dan waved an expressive hand. He was aware that his face had collapsed into irritation, but he couldn’t help it. He <em>was</em> irritated. “I’ve argued for hours with the head of the Institute about this but it’s no use. It’s frustrating that I can’t do more.”</p><p>Crossing the short distance to the counter, Phil settled a lid onto the cup and slid it across the marble to Dan. “At least you’re doing something, though,” and his eyes were so blue and so warm that Dan couldn’t tear himself from the intensity of them. “No cost.”</p><p>Dan had to blink at that. “I can’t,” he protested. “You can’t give me free drinks every time I come in here.”</p><p>“As I said, get rid of that demon and we’ll be good.”</p><p>Dan shook his head, but he took the cup and sipped from it. Fuck, it was good. He took another rebellious sip. Each swallow burned a warm path to his stomach. “I’d do that anyway.”</p><p>Phil was watching him, head cocked to the side. His mouth quirked up in a little smile. “Well,” he said. “You could always help me out in another way.”</p><p>The drink paused halfway back to Dan’s mouth. “Yeah?”</p><p>Phil gestured toward the door behind him, one that certainly led into a supply room of some sort. “I’ve been meaning to move some boxes up to the front here so I can restock but I haven’t had time. Want to help?”</p><p>“Sure,” said Dan before he could stop himself. His cup sloshed as he set it back down on the counter and cast a glance behind him at the empty coffee shop. This demon sighting really was bad for Phil’s business.</p><p>Beckoning, Phil turned and went through the door, vanishing in an instant, and Dan hesitantly followed. Stepping behind the counter felt strange, like he was invading Phil’s territory. Or, he realised as he saw the runes etched into the floor, it was just the wards that Phil had set up. The door creaked as he pushed it open, finding himself in a large storage space with tall shelves, piled boxes, and another door at the far end of the room. Phil was crouched next to an overturned crate, scratching a tabby cat between its ears. Dan could hear its purrs even from his door.</p><p>“You have a cat?”</p><p>Phil laughed. “No need to sound so surprised. Yeah, I keep her back here most of the time because she likes to chew on customers’ ankles.”</p><p>“She’s cute,” said Dan. The cat was staring at him unblinking, head tilted toward Phil’s hand as he rubbed her head. It was creepy, but somehow creepy in a cute way.</p><p>“Her name’s Tabbytha,” said Phil, laughing again at his own pun. He scritched her one last time and stood. The cat immediately leapt from her perch on the crate, winding her way between his legs. “Go catch some mice,” Phil told her, and she seemed to glare up at him before bounding over the crate and vanishing behind a row of boxes.</p><p>Dan wasn’t necessarily a cat person, as in he had never owned a cat because the Institute didn’t encourage any sort of pets, but he could see the appeal. This, he thought, probably wasn’t an ordinary cat though, not if she belonged to a warlock. He wondered if warlocks had some special breed of cat, one that was immortal.</p><p>“We can move…this,” decided Phil, and he reached impossibly high to snag an oversised box from the top of one shelf. It teetered ominously, but his hands spat blue sparks and it stabilised. He offered it to Dan, who accepted it and watched as Phil grabbed another cardboard box from a different shelf.</p><p>They made their way back to the front room, where Phil deposited his box onto the floor by the till and gestured for Dan to pile his on top of it. “There’s not that much,” he told Dan, heading back into the storage room, “I just don’t think about it and forget to do it until I’m busy with customers, and then I forget again as soon as I’m not busy.”</p><p>Dan thought Phil could probably just restock everything with his magic. Maybe not, though. Maybe there were some limits to how it could be used. It wasn’t as though Dan was any sort of expert.</p><p>It took them a few more trips before they had a neat pile of boxes behind the counter, ready to be unpacked and sorted. “That’s all,” Phil announced, staring down at them in satisfaction. Then, belying his words, he went back through the door, leaving it open behind him. Dan followed, dubious.</p><p>“Is there anything else to bring out?” he asked. The door creaked behind him, almost shutting, but not quite. His gaze found Phil immediately. “Is there anything else I can…help with?”</p><p>“Nothing else to bring out,” said the warlock, and his voice was so low that it resembled the cat’s purr from earlier. “But there is something you can help with.” He moved toward Dan, gait predatory, and Dan’s back thudded against the door as he approached. Heat was already building low in Dan’s stomach. He’d known this entire time what was going to happen, but he couldn’t bring himself to regret anything that had brought him back here, trapped in a storage room with a warlock whose gaze was slitted like his cat’s.</p><p>Phil stopped just before they collided, his chest a whisper from Dan’s. The obnoxious pink apron that he constantly wore brushed against Dan’s shirt and it rustled when he lifted a hand to trace the dark, elegant rune sloped above Dan’s eyebrow and across his temple. The pad of his thumb only brushed against Dan’s skin, but it trailed fire in its wake. “You are…intriguing,” he said, his voice was a low murmur. “I’ve never met a Shadowhunter like you.”</p><p>Dan breathed; he was too close, he could taste Phil’s words against his own lips. He could see the fine wrinkles at the corners of Phil’s eyes, the slow drag of eyelashes over the warlock’s cheekbones as he blinked. It was too much, and yet not enough. His hand moved without his permission, snagging Phil’s wrist where it hovered above the rune on Dan’s temple. “You…” he tried, but his voice failed him. His gaze flicked down to the plush of Phil’s lips and then hastily back up, but he had been caught.</p><p>“Is this - ” started Phil, voice deep and warm, but a sound from outside the storage room disrupted whatever he’d been about to say. The tinkle of the bell above the door.</p><p>Dan closed his eyes, willing the customer to leave. He didn’t want this moment stolen from him.</p><p>“Ah, fuck,” said Phil, and Dan expected him to move away, but when he opened his eyes again, it was to a furious display of blue, green, yellow, purple - every colour of every spark cascading from Phil’s fingertips. They pooled on the floor, swirling and eddying in brilliant vibrancy, and then leapt in unison to surround Dan and Phil in an ever-changing clash of lights. Phil’s hands fell from the movements he’d used to direct the lights and he gripped Dan’s waist. Dan’s arms looped around the warlock’s neck almost without his direction. If he thought he couldn’t look away from Phil before, he certainly couldn’t now, not with the reflected light of the sparks dancing in Phil’s eyes or the splashed colours across his cheekbones.</p><p>“What’s this?” he finally managed.</p><p>Phil’s mouth tugged in a smile. He was pressing ever closer to Dan, their hips aligned as his thigh slid between Dan’s legs. His mouth was a breath from Dan’s lips. “I just stopped time for a few seconds, no big deal.”</p><p>“No <em>big deal</em> - ” started Dan, but then Phil’s lips were on his, and the air was stolen from his lungs. His thoughts scattered, left only with the desire to be <em>closer</em>. His grip tightened on Phil’s shoulders and he returned the kiss with a ferocity that he didn’t even understand. The brilliant sparks around them felt like they were lighting up inside of Dan. This felt like something so much more dangerous than just a kiss.</p><p>Their bodies had melded together at that first touch, and a little thought returned to Dan’s mind as he felt the wood of the door dig into his spine when Phil pushed closer into him. It wasn’t even inconvenient, not with Phil’s mouth burning against his, but Dan moved anyway. Their lips didn’t part as he pivoted on one leg and used his leverage to flip their position. Now Phil was up against the door, legs falling apart to let Dan slide between them and press up against him, devouring his mouth with biting lips and clashing teeth. It wasn’t anything soft. Phil’s hands, still at his waist, slid careful fingers under the hem of his shirt, burning touch against his stomach. His skin jumped beneath the touch, every nerve standing on end. Heat seared beneath every movement. He felt so <em>alive</em>.</p><p>He wasn’t even aware that his hands had slid into Phil’s hair until the warlock groaned into his mouth. His fingers twined with the strands of hair, and he tugged a little, gratified by the sound Phil gasped between their lips. Tiny sparks spat lightning from Phil’s fingertips to the trembling skin of Dan’s stomach.</p><p>He probably never would have pulled away if the sparks around them hadn’t begun to fade. The colours blinked away, although Phil’s fingers still dipped beneath Dan’s shirt and stuttered sparks against his skin. The display of brilliant light slowly faded, the last of the sparks trailing to the floor and winking out of existence as Dan and Phil’s lips met once, twice, three more times, slower every time they collided. Dan hadn’t realised there was no sound around them but for their harsh breaths until the rush of a car driving past outside, the shuffle of a customer in the shop outside the door, and the soft pad of the cat creeping around in the storage room behind him slowly returned to his ears. He dragged his teeth once more against Phil’s lower lip and finally pulled back, letting his eyelids creep open.</p><p>The warlock looked debauched, cheeks flushed and hair tousled, though Dan was sure he looked no better. Phil’s gaze was dark as he licked his lips, fingers still spread against the muscles jumping beneath the skin of Dan’s stomach.</p><p>“Sorry,” he said, and his voice was hoarse. “Can only do that trick for a minute or so.”</p><p>“It’s a good trick,” said Dan, and then he couldn’t help it: he kissed him again. He didn’t let it last long, though, well aware that someone was impatiently waiting in the coffee shop just outside this door. He pulled away, finally, letting his hands fall from Phil’s neck. He tugged at the apron that the warlock wore, adjusting the ruffles that he’d disrupted in their movements. Phil reluctantly pulled his hands from beneath Dan’s shirt.</p><p>“Guess I should help that customer.”</p><p>“Guess so,” said Dan, but he didn’t step back, and Phil didn’t make any move to get out. Their gazes locked for a few long moments, and then Dan offered, “Why don’t you get my phone number?</p><p>Phil clearly approved, the corners of his lips tugging upwards, and he took the phone that Dan offered a moment later. It only took him a few seconds to type in his number and send a text so he would have Dan’s number. “Call me,” he said, and Dan almost couldn’t tell if it was a demand or a warning.</p><p>“I’ll text,” he said.</p><p>“Hmm,” said Phil. “Fine.” He straightened, brushing out his apron as if Dan hadn’t properly smoothed the ruffles, and then snagged the collar of Dan’s shirt for another quick kiss before pushing him back and opening the door.</p><p>“Hi!” Dan could hear Phil chirping to the customer. “Sorry for the wait, what can I get for you?” He could feel a smile pulling at his mouth and he followed the warlock back out into the coffee shop. He ignored the customer, slipping around the counter to grab the drink that he had abandoned earlier. It still burned through the cup; Phil had probably heated it up again through magical means for Dan.</p><p>“Call me!” Phil called again as Dan headed for the door to the street.</p><p>Dan tipped his drink in acknowledgement, then pulled the same move he had seen Phil use and lifted it to his lips to hide his smile. “I’ll text!” he repeated, and then he ducked through the door and was on the street, left only with his coffee and the memory of a scorching kiss in a back room.</p><p>Yeah, he’d call Phil.</p><p> </p><p>Phil called him first.</p><p>Dan might have been more excited than he was, but the call lit up his phone at just before five in the morning when the furthest edges of the sky were pinking with sunrise. He was sleeping restlessly, dreams plagued with flashes of searing kisses and nightmarish demons, so he jolted wide awake when his phone buzzed on the dresser beside his bed.</p><p>His eyes barely slits against the glare of the phone screen, he only made out the caller ID as “Phil &lt;3,” the contact name Phil had entered for himself, before swiping to answer it. His voice felt like gravel against his throat as he spoke. “Hello? Phil?”</p><p>There was silence for a long moment, enough that Dan sat up in bed, rubbing fiercely against his gritty eyes. “Hello?” he repeated.</p><p>“Dan,” said Phil, finally, but his voice was so low that Dan could barely make it out, and it was broken by static. “Dan, I - ” It cut out for a moment, and then returned louder. Dan’s heart had already plummeted to his stomach.</p><p>“Dan, that demon you were hunting…it’s here.”</p><p>The line cut.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. this is the hunt</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>It all comes together.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The air bit at Dan as he ran. His lungs were frigid, burned cold by the breaths he heaved desperately as he leapt from one rooftop to the next. He hadn’t spared a moment, only grabbing four things as he threw himself from his bed and the Institute: his shirt, his boots, his phone, and his knives. His right fist still ached from the pounding he’d delivered to the doors of the bedrooms as he’d run down the hallway, knowing that the occupants would wake with the alarm and follow him. They were somewhere behind him now; he could sense them, but they weren’t fast enough to keep up with him, not with this adrenaline surging through him like a wildfire. He hadn’t even had time to reactivate some of his runes. That, perhaps, was why his chest heaved with the exertion of hurling himself at breakneck speed through the streets of London. </p><p>This was a thirty-minute jog at his usual speed, but only ten had passed and he was almost there already. He could see the corner of the Costco building, dreary in the tepid morning light. The sun hung just below the horizon, hesitant to rise above the building line and casting a dull glare over the thick smog lazing its way through the streets.</p><p>His legs burned, but it didn’t slow him. He threw himself over a pile of boxes, unwilling to go around them and risk losing his momentum, and he crashed back to the rooftop with a thud that jarred his knees. He rolled to absorb the impact, coming back up with hands outstretched to regain his balance, and launched himself forward again.</p><p>It took him too long to leap from the rooftop, sprint down the darkened alley, jump over rubble sprawled in his way, suck in breaths that didn’t ease the ache in his lungs. His mind couldn’t keep up with his legs, still caught on the low, desperate cadence of Phil’s voice when he had called only minutes before. He knew, knew, <em> knew</em>, he was already too late, but that didn’t stop his heart from pounding in rhythm with his feet thudding on the paved alley, his hands grasping the hilts of his blades, his ears straining for any sound and catching nothing but the wind rushing in his ears and the distant footfall <em> patter </em> of the Shadowhunters following him.</p><p>One last corner, one last ominous dark corner that had Dan’s fingers aching for something to dig his knives into, and then he was <em> there</em>, sprinting around the corner of the building behind Phil’s little coffee shop.</p><p>The few streetlights were dull and useless, casting sad streaks of light through the fog drifting past. The streets were empty, marked with signposts and parking meters, shopfronts and display cases. There was something so wrong about the stillness, the unnatural silence, despite Dan’s regular patrols at nighttime. This wasn’t night, though; this was that in-between haze that drifted endlessly between the true dark of night and the hesitant light of early morning.</p><p>The market to his left was devoid of life, still and dark, but when Dan’s hasty gaze fell upon the coffee shop he had visited three times already, something inside him clenched to find that he could see the dim glare of a single light through the fog.</p><p>He moved toward it instantly, knowing somewhere deep inside of him that he would find Phil there, but as he drew closer, the front of the building became more visible through the mist. His steps faltered for a moment as the most obvious feature jumped out at him, and then he surged forward again, drawing his knives from their sheathes with a silvery <em> cling</em>.</p><p>The door was hanging open.</p><p>Light spilt from the sliver of an opening, weak and pale, and Dan could see that the door wasn’t just cracked open. It was hanging at an awkward angle, the hinges on the top torn halfway from the frame. The tip of the door leaned heavily against the pavement, defeated. Someone, or some<em>thing</em>, hadn’t bothered opening this door to get in.</p><p>His feet whispered against the wood of the floor as he crept inside, blades glinting dully in the overhead light. There was no fog inside the coffee shop, but it seemed like it was there anyway. The atmosphere was thick and gloomy, despite the passive light hanging in the middle of the room. It cast obscure shadows in the corners of the small space, leaving the area behind the counter a mystery.</p><p>Dan had no breath in his lungs, despite his race to get here. His blood thrilled through his veins, desperate for something, <em> anything</em>, to break this tension. He moved instead, swift across the room and behind the counter, his twin blades brandished before him like the bristling whiskers of a cougar on the prowl.</p><p>There was nothing behind the counter unless what he wanted were piles of coffee bean bags, a minifridge, or rows upon rows of syrups. Dan didn’t know what time Phil opened his shop in the morning, but he could see glistening metal instruments in the sink, clearly ready for the muggy day to begin. The door to the storage room was closed, dark and intimidating between the tall counters on either side of it. Dan didn’t pause now, checking once more along the floor behind the counter and then stepping toward the storage room. He didn’t know what he was going to find here. Maybe the shadow demon. Maybe Phil.</p><p>Dan’s mind was trapped on the warlock, the most logical part of his brain insisting that Phil was a fiercely capable downworlder and could defend himself even against one of the Void’s worst demons, but the rest of his mind was remembering the quiet way Phil had whispered that <em> it </em> was there. Fear lit his nerves - not of the demon he had failed to find, but of the idea that he would find a crumpled, mauled body in place of the beautiful, otherworldly warlock he had seen only yesterday.</p><p>He opened the door.</p><p>It was dark inside. It wasn’t just the shadowed gloom of the coffee shop, but the deep absence of light. A paltry stream of light attempted its way past Dan into the storage room and was devoured only a few feet inside. Dan considered carving a sun rune onto his hand, which would send a beam of pure light cascading from his palm, but it would take too long and he would be exposed without his weapons for the instant it took to make it. </p><p>Instead, he nudged the door wider with one foot and crept inside, blades ready for any movement from any direction. His eyes adjusted, albeit slowly, until he could make out the indistinct shapes of tall cabinets and boxes all around him. </p><p>Something shifted in the corner of the room and Dan braced himself, the hilts of his knives thrumming with anticipation. The shadows drifted around the shape, thick and clinging, and then it <em> moved</em>. Dan’s knives flashed, but he was too slow, and a slim, black shape hurled itself at his legs.</p><p>The thin, sharp edge of one blade stopped a millimetre from bristling dark fur. “Fuck,” Dan breathed.</p><p>It was Phil’s cat. The small creature’s claws dug into the leg of Dan’s pants, sharp pinpricks through the material, and it yowled quietly, bright yellow eyes peering up at him. The fur along its neck and back stood on end, ears flat against its head, but Dan didn’t think it was in reaction to <em> him</em>.</p><p>“Is it in here?” he quietly asked the cat. It hissed in response, tail lashing, and then it struggled for a moment to detach its claws from his trousers. Once it was free, it darted past him, vanishing into the main area of the coffee shop. Dan hoped it didn’t go out the open front door, but he couldn’t spare the time to follow it. He turned back to the smearing darkness in the storage room. It was unnatural, made worse by Phil’s absence. At least there was no visible body slumped upon the floor of the room, though that didn’t guarantee Phil was alive.</p><p>Dan moved further into the storage room, letting the muggy air embrace him as he crept forward. He raised his blades again, once more prepared to strike at anything that so much as twitched. Phil only had one cat, as far as Dan knew, so he didn’t have to worry about accidentally murdering another pet.</p><p>There shouldn’t be this much space in this small room. Dan could distinctly remember moving those boxes with Phil yesterday - and the thorough making out that had followed it - and the far wall hadn’t been more than a few metres from the door. Now, though, it seemed impossibly distant, dozens of strides away. Maybe it was just the preternatural thickness of the gloom, but it seemed purposeful. Something about the distance struck an odd chord in Dan’s mind. It stank of magic.</p><p>Dan’s phone buzzed in his pocket, but he disregarded it. He could hear the distant but rapidly-nearing thud of footfalls outside the coffee shop. His fellow hunters would be there in moments and then this would all be finished. Dan could take down a demon by himself with some effort and time, but with the group that had followed him, it would be vanquished in moments.</p><p>The door slammed shut behind him.</p><p>Something rumbled in the far corners of the room. It almost resembled a purr, but it had too much of an edge to it. It was closer to a snarl. The shelves beside Dan trembled with the vibrations of the reverberation, and then the noise resolved itself into an intonation, a <em> voice</em>.</p><p>“<em>A hunter</em>,” it said, and Dan shuddered against the way he could <em> feel </em> the way it tested out the words, tasting them against its tongue. It was shapeless, a formless void with a voice that was lost in the shadows, but Dan didn’t falter despite the dread coursing through his veins. He took a step forward instead, holding his blades aloft before him.</p><p>“What’s your purpose?” he asked. His arms wanted to tremble, but he didn’t let them. He had lost the tepid light from the main room when the door had shut, but his eyes were already partially adjusted, and his blades emitted a soft glow that sank its teeth into the darkness surrounding him.</p><p>A shadow moved in the furthest reaches of the room. It was impossibly too far away, Dan felt. But it was <em> close</em>, too. He could almost taste the scent of the demon, a distant odour that reminded him of the Void from whence it had crawled. “<em>Kill,” </em> hissed the shadow. It moved again, closer to Dan, and then all at once, he could see two red, slitted eyes gleaming at him through the murky black. They didn’t blink, malicious in their hunger. “<em>Maul, tear, eat, destroy</em>.” </p><p>Dan’s knives glinted back defiantly, singing for battle. They yearned not for the hunt, but for the rush of adrenaline-fueled, furious blows at the end, where there was only one clear victor and the other would be left ruined. Dan could feel their desire to sink themselves into the billowy mass of this demon.</p><p>The demon didn’t make him wait. Shadows heaved and then peeled away from the darkness, a writhing, grotesque mass of demonic intent and chaos. It hurt Dan’s brain to look at, even in this dim setting.</p><p>It came for him.</p><p>He felt the impact in his very bones as his knives collided with something that was decidedly <em> not </em> ephemeral, the blades sinking deep into impossibly black leathery skin. The demon shrilled beneath the cuts, and Dan could smell its skin burning beneath the purified blade, but it didn’t cease its attack. Tendrils of shadows, sharp and jagged, reached for him, and Dan barely yanked on his knives and danced backwards before they swept through the space where he’d just been standing.</p><p>He moved away, sideways, toward it, feet darting nimbly around the shadow as he evaded its swooping claws. His eyes adjusted a little more, or maybe it was the light peeking beneath the door, and he could make out a distorted, elongated lump of a face and the half-metre tusks that protruded from it. As soon as he saw it, it was gone again, dissolving into a sinuous bulk of shadow that weaved its way toward him.</p><p>The blades flashed again, and again, and again, striking beautifully and fiercely to draw roars of fury and oozing ichor that dissolved into wisps of shadow. It was solid in one instant, agile darkness the next.</p><p>Something thudded distantly against the door to the storage room. The other hunters had doubtlessly arrived, drawn to the fight like flies to a kill, but they couldn’t reach Dan or his foe. Dan could hear their attempts to get through the door, but it was shut firmly, and he had no doubt it would take them too long to break it down. It was stubborn, either because of Phil’s old wards or the shadow demon somehow holding it shut.</p><p>Dan’s distraction cost him. In that fraction of a second where he’d heard the pounding against the door, his knives’ speed had slowed infinitesimally, and the demon took immediate advantage. It didn’t go for his head or his torso, too wary of the power of the blades, but instead, shadows clawed for Dan’s feet, swooping like tenterhooks around his ankles and yanking. His legs flew out from beneath him and he fell hard, shoulder blades slamming into the floor with a solid <em> crack </em> that jarred up his spine. He only had time to flail out one arm for balance, but his wrist caught against a shelf and his knife went flying somewhere into the shadows of the room.</p><p>Every one of Dan’s nerve endings was alight. He made an aborted motion in an attempt to leap back to his feet, but the demon was already looming above him, shadows spread wide and feathered like the angel of death’s arched wings. Something resembling teeth flashed at him, gleaming against the light from the single blade he still held desperately in one hand.</p><p>It bore down on him, and Dan lashed out wildly, futilely, at anything his knife could reach. It was pinning his legs now, and he could feel suffocating darkness beginning to seep over his chest, pressing the breath from his lungs. His knife flashed against the gaseous wisps, doing nothing but fragmenting the blade’s glow.</p><p>And then the blade struck something solid.</p><p>Dan felt the minute tremor of his knife hilt and didn’t hesitate. He threw the full weight of his arm, shoulder, back, into the motion and heaved his blade against the pressure. Something gave, and the demon shrilled above him. The blade ripped through solid matter, shadows escaping from around the gleaming edges and going down, down, <em> down </em> until Dan couldn’t stretch out his arm any further.</p><p>An inhuman noise escaped the demon, something otherworldly and lost between a scream and a groan. It sluggishly threw itself back from Dan and his biting knife, its edges shaking with the strain to hold itself together. Dan could see its eyes glaring red at him, the tendrils of its outstretched shadows seething. No hatred was purer than that of a demon’s.</p><p>But hatred couldn’t hold it together, not with the purified blade that had been plunged deep into it. It hissed at Dan, spewing fury and spite, although Dan didn’t know whether it was because of the pain from the cut or the knowledge that it was falling apart at the seams and would be banished back to the Void that it had only just escaped.</p><p>Dan just waited. He took the brief respite to catch his breath, fingers still white-knuckled around the grip of his knife, and stared down the fading ember burn of the demon’s eyes. It screamed once more, a clawed shadow swinging at Dan, but he knocked it aside with an easy swing of his blade and it was lost. The red glow of its eyes dimmed, flickered, faded, and then they went out, and the shadow collapsed in on itself.</p><p>Only the normal, exhaustive darkness of the room was left once the demon had vanished. It was a small storage room again, shelves pressing right around Dan. His eyes had to adjust once more to the less penetrating shadows of the room, but when they did, he could make out a slumped figure in the corner of the room.</p><p>His legs were wooden beneath Dan as he threw himself to his feet, almost dropping his knife as he staggered toward the shape. He could distantly feel the sweat weeping from his back, the strain in his arms and thighs from the brief fight, and his pulse thundering in his ears. His knees crashed against the floor as he fell beside the figure.</p><p>He already knew who it was.</p><p>He touched the prone form’s shoulder and rolled him. A familiar face lay unmoving beneath him, dark lashes stark against his pale cheeks. Dan’s fingers trembled against his sharp jawbone, almost too afraid to venture further and check his veins for a pulse.</p><p>Phil’s eyes opened.</p><p>Dan breathed for what felt like the first time in years. He heaved in another breath, desperate suddenly for oxygen, and he closed his eyes for a brief moment before opening them again and drinking in the sight of the warlock, <em> alive </em>. He hadn’t realised how terrified he had been until the relief was washing over him.</p><p>Phil blinked up at him and a tremulous smile crept across his face. His eyes were too, too blue. “You came,” he said, and his voice was hoarse.</p><p>“Yeah,” said Dan, almost choking on the word. His fingers flexed helplessly, and then he was gripping the warlock’s shoulders, hauling him up and wrapping him in a ferocious hug. Phil’s hands flailed for a moment, but then he relaxed into the movement and slowly encircled his arms around Dan’s back. Hesitant sparks sputtered from his fingers, enveloping them both in a gentle glow.</p><p>“We’re okay,” Dan breathed. He buried his face in Phil’s neck, inhaling his wild, lightning scent and curling his fingers into the back of his shirt. “We’re okay,” he repeated.</p><p>The shadows were clearing, the demon was defeated, something new and tentative was blossoming in this dark storage room with the hunter and the warlock, and yeah.</p><p>They were okay.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Epilogue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Dan's experience encourages the Institute to ask the Downworlders for help.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Heard anything yet?” asked Dan.</p><p>Tyler, leaning against the open window of the Institute’s study, cast Dan an exasperated look. His dark blond hair was burnished gold and orange with the rays of the sun vanishing over the horizon. “Not since the last time you asked, four minutes ago.”</p><p>Dan furrowed his brows, rubbing his palms against his trousers in an attempt to dispel some of the sweat collecting there. It didn’t help much. “Sorry. I’m just - ”</p><p>“Impatient,” Tyler offered, cracking a grin. “I get it, loverboy.” He attempted to punch Dan’s shoulder but was easily evaded. “It’ll be fine! They’ll be here as soon as the sun is all the way down. You know how the vamps are.”</p><p>Crossing his arms, Dan frowned out the window. The buildings were dark in the fading light, shadows elongated and grotesque as they stretched toward the Institute. It would be perfect hiding grounds for a demon if the Institute hadn’t been surrounded by the strongest wards that hired warlocks could summon. It kept anything other than Shadowhunters out unless they were specifically invited. Tonight, they were. </p><p>“I just don’t get why the werewolves and warlocks are waiting on the vampires,” Dan grumped. He was eager to see Phil again, but he wouldn’t be able to until after this meeting was over and Dan could make it back to the coffee shop. Usually only the High Warlock of London or warlocks who were specifically going to work on the wards were invited into the Institute. Despite Dan’s interest in Phil, that didn’t mean he would be allowed into the Institute on Dan’s recommendation.</p><p>Tyler patted his shoulder consolingly, and this time Dan allowed the touch. “They just like to have a united front. That’s just how they get. We do the same thing, to be honest.”</p><p>“Dan,” came a voice from behind Dan. </p><p>He turned instantly, hands flexed to jump to blades that he wasn’t even wearing, but it was just the head of the Institute. He wasn’t sure if that lessened his nerves or heightened them, actually.</p><p>“Calm down,” Natalie said, clearly amused. “Come, stop hovering by the window.” She gestured him toward the long oak table that had been moved into the study, ready for the meeting that was about to occur. It was surrounded by heavily padded wooden chairs and piled with currently empty plates and cups. As Louise had suggested earlier, the Downworlders and hunters would all be more amiable if their stomachs were full.</p><p>Dan reluctantly followed her, dropping into the seat next to the head of the table. Natalie slipped into that one, folding her hands on the table in front of her. She arched an eyebrow at the few hunters who were already seated at the table, conversing quietly amongst themselves. “Well,” she said. “I do hope this will go well. We haven’t had one of these meetings in over a year.”</p><p>Casting a quick glance to Louise, who was sitting a few chairs down and across the table from him, Dan prodded at their parabatai bond. She glanced up sharply at him, then relaxed and offered him a shrug, clearly knowing what was going through his mind. That in itself was impressive, as Dan himself didn’t quite know what was going through his own mind. He just knew that he was somehow terrified and excited at the same time. Turning to Natalie, he asked, “How many are coming again?”</p><p>“The four vampire clan leaders, two warlocks, a Seelie, and seven werewolf pack alphas,” she replied instantly and then tilted her head as she regarded him keenly. “As if you didn’t know, though.”</p><p>She was too cunning, Dan decided, but there <em> was </em> a good reason she was head of the Institute. He just shrugged, shifting in his seat so he could keep an eye on the double doors that led into the massive room. “I have a personal investment in it,” he finally answered honestly. He wondered what she meant by <em> two </em> warlocks. Perhaps she’d invited one of the warlocks that maintained the Institute’s wards.</p><p>Natalie had to know what had happened that morning, after all. There was no chance that the news hadn’t gotten back to her, the startle the other hunters had gotten when they’d finally caught up to Dan and had burst in on him wrapped around a warlock, closer than any Downworlder and Shadowhunter would ever willingly remain. The four hunters hadn’t said anything, just allowed Dan and Phil to detach themselves from the tight hug and then helped Dan hunt for any remnants of shadows that the demon might have left, but Dan knew they had told Natalie.</p><p>It wasn’t any sort of crime to become involved with a Downworlder, but it was certainly frowned upon. Dan didn’t think that Natalie would have a problem with it, though, not with the rumours he’d heard of her quiet relationships with Seelies and the occasional vampire. </p><p>In fact, Natalie hadn’t even mentioned Phil to Dan when Dan had requested an urgent meeting between the London Institute and the Downworlders of London. She had acquiesced with a feverish look in her eyes, and Dan suspected that his request had just been a convenient excuse for her to call together some of her past lovers. Maybe it wasn’t, though; she had summoned runners to bring messages and summon the Downworlders with surprising swiftness, and Dan’s reasoning for the request might have been enough for her. </p><p>His reasoning, energized by his adrenaline from that fight in the early hours of the morning, from his reluctant departure from Phil, who had to get back to fixing the damaged wards of his coffee shop, and most importantly, his realization that this all could have been avoided if the wolves and even other Downworlders had willingly worked with him to hunt down the demon. Perhaps he was too ambitious, considered Dan, but it was worth any amount of effort to reason with the heads of the various Downworlders to prevent something like this from happening again. Well, it <em> would </em> happen again, there was no doubt of that, but the danger of the demon lurking unhidden in the shadows could be lessened if the Shadowhunters and the Downworlders worked together to find and dispose of it.</p><p>“They’re here!” Tyler announced from the window, and the change in the room was immediate. Hunters sat up in their seats, alert, and conversation halted abruptly. Dan suspected that if weapons were allowed in this meeting, they would be reaching for them. Tyler bounced to the table and dropped into a seat, his mission complete. He had a complicated tangle of runes etched down his back and wrapping around his hips, some bizarre rune concoction that an American Shadowhunter had designed. He had preternatural hearing because of it, so fine-tuned that he could hear a whisper from miles away, and therefore, he was the perfect look-out.</p><p>Another minute passed before Dan could hear the thudding of boots down the hall from the study. The towering doors swung open a few moments later and, flanked by the hunters that had let them inside, the Downworlders began filing inside.</p><p>First came the three vampires, beautiful and pale, unnaturally graceful as they padded around the table and slipped into chairs. They spread out, sitting neither next to a hunter nor one of their fellow vampires. Just behind them were the werewolves, purposely loud as they tromped into the room. Dan knew well that they could stalk quieter than even he could walk, so he was aware that they were being obnoxious. It wasn’t every day that they were invited into the Institute, after all, and it was unfamiliar territory. They didn’t seem to care where they sat, dropping without care into seats next to anyone who was already seated. An ethereal Seelie followed close behind one of the werewolves, sitting closer to the head of the table than any of the other Downworlders had dared. Her golden eyes met Natalie’s and they both smirked, some silent message passing between them. Last, but certainly not least, and who Dan had been waiting to see, the warlocks entered the room.</p><p>The doors shut silently behind the warlocks and the hunters who had been following them crossed the room and found seats of their own. The first warlock, horned and broad-shouldered, took the place at the far end of the table. The other warlock - </p><p>- was Phil, Dan realized suddenly, and he looked swiftly to Natalie. Her gaze drifted to him and she smiled quietly, leaning toward him. “We need the most important ones,” she murmured, although they both knew well enough that almost everyone in this room had keen enough hearing to know anything that she said, and was likely listening sharply. After all, as head of the entire London Institute, she had the power to summon any number of Shadowhunters and bring her fury or pleasure down upon them all.</p><p>Dan didn’t reply, he just turned back to watch Phil as he made his way around the table. The warlock was wearing clothes that differed drastically from his usual barista attire, with sleek dress trousers and a night-blue shirt that seemed to shimmer with a hint of magic. He crossed the room silently, gaze resolutely before him until he took the only remaining seat at the table, which was directly across from Dan. He adjusted his seat, brows furrowed as he settled in, and then, <em> finally</em>, his gaze lifted and met Dan’s.</p><p>Phil smiled, and it felt suddenly like everything was alright again. Dan couldn’t help but offer a grin in return, aware that anyone else at this table would be able to read his emotions, but uncaring. He was impatient to talk to Phil, to introduce him to Louise and Natalie, to pull him into a quiet room and <em> really </em> greet him properly.</p><p>“Well,” said Natalie, and she waited until the few quiet murmurs of conversation had ceased and all eyes were on her before continuing. “Thank you all for coming on such short notice. I’m sure you all know the message I sent with my summons, but I will remind us all of the urgency of it. This Institute has stamped out many invading demons, and yet London is still plagued. This morning’s unhappy occurrence is only one example of such. We are stretched thin though, and this isn’t going away by itself.”</p><p>Not a person spoke. For the first time in as long as Dan could remember, every Shadowhunter and Downworlder in a single room were in quiet agreement.</p><p>Natalie stood from her chair, a grand gesture that only served to hone the attention of the entire room on her. She met every gaze with her own steely one, allowing a lengthy pause, and then she spoke with finality. “As the head of all Shadowhunters in London, I am asking you today for your assistance.”</p><p>The room erupted in whispers. Dan breathed a sigh, glancing at Louise, who was nodding to everything that Natalie had said. Tyler, and Mark, and Jack, and Dean, and the numerous other hunters in the room were in clear agreement, even if they didn’t look terribly excited by the concept. The Downworlders as a group looked shocked, but Dan could sense the overall mood of the room. They seemed curious, intrigued by the request.</p><p>He met Phil’s gaze again. The corners of the warlock’s eyes were crinkled in a smile, and he tilted his head slowly. <em> It’s going to happen</em>, he mouthed.</p><p>Yeah, Dan thought with relief and exhilaration as Natalie began to speak again, outlining her specific requests and what the Institute would offer in return for the Downworlders. Yeah, it was going to happen.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>thank you sm for reading! if you enjoyed it pls feel free to drop a comment with your favourite part(s) or <a href="https://itsmyusualphannie.tumblr.com/post/611585219602120705/the-demons-that-bring-us-together">reblog the masterlist!</a></p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>please do not repost any of my works. if you are reading this story anywhere other than AO3, please let me know at <a href="https://itsmyusualphannie.tumblr.com/">itsmyusualphannie.tumblr.com</a> :)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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